1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the construction of an IC card connector used with a PC card used as a storage medium of personal computers or the like and a CF (compact flash) card used in a digital camera and other electronic apparatuses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An IC card connector is commonly used as an additional storage unit of a personal computer. An IC card is coming into widespread use as a storage medium of the IC card connector.
The IC card is loaded in the IC card connector to write and read necessary information. To increase operability in loading and unloading the IC card, some IC card connectors have an ejection mechanism for ejecting the IC card.
It is known that the conventional IC card ejection mechanism includes a slide member for carrying an IC card, a locking member for holding the slide member in an IC card loaded position, and a spring member for energizing the slide member in an eject direction when the locking member is unlocked, wherein, when the IC card is ejected as the slide member moves in the eject direction, the IC card is pushed out in the eject direction by an energizing force of the spring member.
However, the above-described conventional IC card connector has the following problems in terms of construction. First, if the locking member and the slide member are not engaged in each other successfully when an IC card is inserted, the IC card cannot be held in the loaded position. Second, where the locking member and the slide member are disengaged from each other when the IC card is ejected, the IC card cannot be ejected if the slide member does not move due to static friction.